BitCo Consumer Review

blakeapc said:
Garth, I'm so disappointed. After not being able to get ADSL in my home I was so excited to hear about Bitco. Having moved a few months ago from the U.S., I was glad to finally find a provider on par in many ways with American providers. After going through all the process of application and waiting for installation eagerly, we were told today there is no LOS. Still stuck with expensive Telkom service and ration our internet usage. I guess we just have to get used to African internet limitations. :cry:
Click to expand...

I'm hoping for LOS but I know it's a long shot for me due to the topology even though I'm at the centre of 3 high sites.

Maybe someone here who has had theirs installed can confirm whether a prerequisite is visual line of sight.

I know BitCo are new to the home game but there are towers all around Johannesburg and I find it strange that they haven't installed repeaters on some other towers. They can expand their reach and thus sign more customers.
 
Wikkels88 said:
Mmmmm ran some downloads through the night on my 2mb, and although I'm fine with the policy that your speeds get halved temporarily when you use it excessively, this is not on http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3564514537 first time I get a speed test this slow after downloads, and its not even business hours. Normally when I download, it gets dropped to about 0.9-1mbs on a speed test, with regular browsing you don't even notice it, but with 0.3 mbs speed it becomes obviously noticeably, have to sit and wait for every page to load
Click to expand...

Hi Wikkels88

What time did you run that speed test? We can check your usage during that period... It is possible that something else was running in the background... we've had this with a few users who didn't know a spare machine was using the link at the same time etc.
 
Just got told that there was no LOS, not sure why the guys couldn't tell me that when they were here, they just said that they would need to do a report... They took pictures and somehow knew that we have a server room :confused: which they also took pictures of. Oh well, hopefully either Telkom's or my neighbourhood's fibre project get going soon.
 
macedon said:
As with any other ISP in SA , more clients they get worst the speeds and service... just my thought!:)
Click to expand...

Hi Macedon

I can promise this will not happen for a loooong time. We have tons of capacity on our network and it is constantly getting upgraded.
 
Hush9300 said:
I'm hoping for LOS but I know it's a long shot for me due to the topology even though I'm at the centre of 3 high sites.

Maybe someone here who has had theirs installed can confirm whether a prerequisite is visual line of sight.

I know BitCo are new to the home game but there are towers all around Johannesburg and I find it strange that they haven't installed repeaters on some other towers. They can expand their reach and thus sign more customers.
Click to expand...

Hi Hush9300

Our links need clear Line Of Site to connect to the tower. We battle in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg with trees but the other areas are nowhere near as bad.

We are constantly building towers and lighting new fibre circuits and I believe we currently have more high sites than a orange company.
 
If you build a tower at Northcliff Hill, trust me trees wont be a problem for LOS to many potential clients around randburg, linden, fairlands, weltewreden park, randpark ridge...



garthvs said:
Hi Hush9300

Our links need clear Line Of Site to connect to the tower. We battle in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg with trees but the other areas are nowhere near as bad.

We are constantly building towers and lighting new fibre circuits and I believe we currently have more high sites than a orange company.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Garth

Installation was done last friday...I called your office thrice, yesterday..the last call was 4.30pm and im still not connected.. I have no problem connecting to the internet with my vodacom mobile wifi modem but i keep getting " CANT CONNECT TO THIS NETWORK " when i try to connect to your network..Please help me get this right..im using windows 8..

Thanx!
 
Hi Garth

Not happy with what's happening... A lady from your office called me Friday at about 17:30 stating that the site survey would be done Wednesday (as in today). I went on to add it to my calendar as to avoid conflicts.

I call your offices now as I didn't hear anything from your wireless division and Nikita tells me they have me down for Wednesday the 25th.

My gripe is that I'm a contractor and I've just lost a days income and will lose another day's next week.

Edit: got a call from the project manager. It's been resolved.
 
Last edited:
I'm concerned that from getting so much feedback when this all started, it just seems that the feedback has been lacking more and more as of late. Maybe Garth is sick. It is a bit worrying though
 
Pitbull said:
I'm concerned that from getting so much feedback when this all started, it just seems that the feedback has been lacking more and more as of late. Maybe Garth is sick. It is a bit worrying though
Click to expand...

Hi Guys

Sorry for the delay, I tried to get a bit of a break around the long weekend. We will need to create a BitCo user profile that I can hand over when unavailable.
 
Hush9300 said:
Hi Garth

Not happy with what's happening... A lady from your office called me Friday at about 17:30 stating that the site survey would be done Wednesday (as in today). I went on to add it to my calendar as to avoid conflicts.

I call your offices now as I didn't hear anything from your wireless division and Nikita tells me they have me down for Wednesday the 25th.

My gripe is that I'm a contractor and I've just lost a days income and will lose another day's next week.

Edit: got a call from the project manager. It's been resolved.
Click to expand...

Sorry about this Hush9300. I will ask the scheduler to be more specific and include the date when specifying a week day.
 
Wave20 said:
Hi Garth

Installation was done last friday...I called your office thrice, yesterday..the last call was 4.30pm and im still not connected.. I have no problem connecting to the internet with my vodacom mobile wifi modem but i keep getting " CANT CONNECT TO THIS NETWORK " when i try to connect to your network..Please help me get this right..im using windows 8..

Thanx!
Click to expand...

Hi Wave20

Can you please PM me your full name so I can follow up for you. I suspect your link hand over may have been skipped somewhere.
 
garthvs said:
Sorry about this Hush9300. I will ask the scheduler to be more specific and include the date when specifying a week day.
Click to expand...

No problem Garth. Was a case of miscommunication between the consultant and I. Nikita was helpful and the project manager put the issue to bed.
 
garthvs said:
Hi Wave20

Can you please PM me your full name so I can follow up for you. I suspect your link hand over may have been skipped somewhere.
Click to expand...

Thanx Garth, but i called again and this time a different guy sorted me out in about 10 minutes. :)
 
Hi Guys,

Can someone share some pics of their entire installation, antenna, wifi router and connections etc.. Signed the quote and now waiting for the Wireless team to call me. Cannot wait.. :rolleyes:
 
prasanv said:
Hi Guys,

Can someone share some pics of their entire installation, antenna, wifi router and connections etc.. Signed the quote and now waiting for the Wireless team to call me. Cannot wait.. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I could if I get home. The Installation guys take pics when they are done. Garth would be able to share a few if he wants.
 
labratza said:
also curious of there work. When i move later this year I will seriously consider going over to Bitco
Click to expand...

I have zero complaints about their installation. They even pounded a 1.5m copper rod into the ground to earth the installation.

Will def take pics when I get home for you guys.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X